1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is that of educational methods and systems.
2. Description of Related Art
People generally prefer to learn from and be motivated by persons that they know and trust (“known persons”). The known persons can be relatives, friends, teachers, employers, celebrities, and the like.
The above comments are illustrated by the exemplary situation of children and their caregivers. Methods, systems, toys and other devices for educating children have been developed over the years and range from dolls and colored blocks to sophisticated computer-implemented interactive learning tools. The term “children” as used herein refers to infants or new-borns (up to twelve months old), toddlers (twelve to twenty-four months old), and older children (older than twenty-four months).
Children learn best directly from their caregivers, due to the bond they have with the caregivers. The term “caregiver” as used herein refers to the parents, grandparents, older siblings or the other persons who have responsibility to raise and care for the child. Nevertheless, a problem exists in that a child's caregiver or caregivers may not be able to be with the child during all or part of the child's waking life, due to career or other commitments. Other persons, such as nannies or day care center personnel, may have to look after the child during that part of the child's life. However, the child may not have a bond with such persons as it may have with its caregivers.
However, known persons may not be available in person or by long-range transmission means, such as video-conferencing, when needed to impart educational and/or other information. Moreover, recording an instructional session by a known person for later reproduction to the intended audience may require resources and expertise that may be unavailable or too costly to acquire. Thus, a need exists in the art for a method and system for providing educational and/or other information to people using the personality of a known person that does not require considerable resources and/or expertise on the part of the known person. It would also be advantageous to have a method and system for producing customized educational and entertainment media by uniting the image and voice of a known person with a stock medium.